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Monday, October 4, 2010

Painting Goes Back to Artists Family

Exhilaration!!! That's an understatement of what I'm feeling right now!

One of the long-term projects that I'm working on right now is to deal with all the the antiques my mother had in her home when she died in 1991 and her mother's belongings from when she died in 1994. I know many of you archivists will squirm a when I say they have been stored in cardboard boxes in my basement ever since. EEK!

I have already dealt with the furniture and most things which are sentimental to me or to my brother. What remains are the things I don't know what to do with which they had in their homes.

One of the items is a small painting, oil on canvas. The canvas is about 5 x 7 and it's in a gilded frame.

I don't know whether this was my mothers or grandmothers, though it looks more like my grandmother's style. I don’t know where it came from, though we were probably living in New England at the time they acquired it. I personally think it's charming, but between their stuff and mine, I really need to purge as much as I can! If it's of value I sell it. If it's not I donate it.

But this one was special because of this (click on it to see it larger):

The artist's signature included her maiden name and married name. Viola Files Dube’. So I did a search on Ancestry.com and only found one tree with her complete name. I contacted the owner who said the artist is his great grandfather's brother's wife. And that his mother would be thrilled to have it because "Uncle Herman" was her favorite uncle.

So, it's boxed and ready to ship. THISisFUN!!! And I will be smiling all the way to the post office knowing that it was returned to the original family.